Socket-A VIA KT133 Motherboard Roundup - November 2000

How we Crown

There are a lot of things to consider in picking the winner of any roundup.  There are no definite rules in how to pick one.  Most of the time you gain something and at the same time you lose something, so it is a matter of how we can find that proper balance.  For example, most of time when we ask for more performance, we lose some stability.  Also, what we suggest here can be totally different from what some particular users encounter.

Performance

Definitely we want something above the average.  As you notice from the tests above, the scores are almost the same, meaning that most of the boards have almost the same performance.  This wasn’t entirely the case in our August roundup.  This indicates the level of maturity of the platform has increased significantly.  Therefore, it doesn’t make too much sense to pursue the motherboard with the “highest” performance.  After all, you are asking for a mere 2 to 3% gain.

Stability

Compared to performance, stability should be considered much more seriously.  No matter how good the performance of a board is, if the board isn’t stable, the board is useless.  Luckily, from what we have noticed, the KT133 motherboards are more stable than they were 3 months ago.  That’s definitely good news for the end users.  From our analysis, in the past, the average crash rate was around 6 to 7 times within a 24-hour span.  But from the KT133 motherboards we have been testing in the past 2 months, the average crash rate has gone down to around 4 and 5.  Therefore, users should have better results going after some of the newer boards.

The first thing to look out for is those large capacitors around the CPU socket, and possibly the North Bridge.  Those capacitors are called Low ESR (Equivalent Series Resistance) capacitors.  Larger capacitors aren’t necessarily superior ones, and while a capacitor with larger capacitance rating helps, it is their quality that counts.  A good low ESR capacitor becomes very important during high frequency operation, and is particularly important for the stability of the CPU and the system in general.

The layout of the board, as well as the surface mount components on the board is just as important as the low ESR capacitors.  Basically, in simple terms, you want components to run with almost the same frequency locally, and you want the signal traces to have almost the same lengths, so that clock skew can be minimized.  Noticed that this totally contradicts the idea of minimizing all the traces, and thus the hard part – how to maintain little clock skew and minimize the amount of tracing.

Price

This category is more complicated.  You just can’t solely look at the price and decide if a board is good or not.  You have to compare it with the features of the board, quality of the components, reputation, etc…  The most expensive does not always mean the best.  On the other hand, an average price tag doesn’t immediately equate to a good buy either.

Quality

This category is very important as well.  Users should look for a higher quality board so that they can keep the boards in their systems without much trouble of broken components.  The way to learn about quality is mainly by experience or by asking people.  Generally the more you see, the more you know.

Moreover, the general quality of products also counts.  You can usually know about that by looking at the RMA (return merchandize authorization) rate of products from certain manufacturers.  Good manufacturers should have RMA rate of 1% or lower.  If the RMA rate is high, then there is a higher chance that you get a motherboard with problems on it.  This type of information is best gained by asking reputable vendors, especially those you trust about what their experiences have been.

Features

It is important to find a board that suits your needs.  For example if you need RAID support, you should look at boards with RAID controllers.  If you need a board that has an ISA slot to support a particular card you absolutely cannot lose, then you should focus on finding a board with an ISA slot.  The board with the most features listed might not be the one you really need.  Therefore, always remind yourself of what you really need before searching for a board.

Layout

The layout of a board can be important, both to the environment you will use board in as well as stability.  When you pick a board, you should think about how the board will fit into the case, will there be any obstacles around the CPU?  If the CPU socket is too close to the right edge of the board, will the power supply affect the installation of the processors?  What about installing larger heatsinks on this board?  You should consider all these issues, especially if you have a smaller case. 

Documentation and Software

Especially for new system builders, documentation is very important.  A good manual should contain information on how to install the motherboard, CPU, RAM, video card.  It has to include details on all the different jumpers, dipswitches, and connectors.  It should also talk about the BIOS settings in detail since many users haven’t had much experience with what the plethora of settings actually do.  Moreover, instructions on how to install the drivers and other software must be included, as well as a troubleshooting section. 

For the software, basic drivers for all components should be included, as well as all the usual software utilities.